Apple Said to Prepare Song-ID Feature for IPhone Software

A woman listens to music on her mobile device at Olympic Forest Park in Beijing. While Apple Inc. is the world’s largest music seller through its iTunes store, customers are listening more to Internet services like Google Inc.’s YouTube, Spotify Ltd. and Pandora Media Inc. Photographer: Xiao Lu Chu/Getty Images

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. wants to help you name
that tune.

The company is planning to unveil a song-discovery feature
in an update of its iOS mobile software that will let users
identify a song and its artist using an iPhone or iPad, said two
people with knowledge of the product, who asked not to be
identified because the feature isn’t public. Apple is working
with Shazam Entertainment Ltd., whose technology can quickly
spot what’s playing by collecting sound from a phone’s
microphone and matching it against a song database.

Apple is bolstering its music offerings even as song-download sales have slowed across the industry. While the
Cupertino, California-based company is the world’s largest music
seller through its iTunes store, customers are listening more to
Internet services like Google Inc.’s YouTube, Spotify Ltd. and
Pandora Media Inc. Apple last year introduced its own streaming
service, iTunes Radio, which it plans to expand outside the U.S.
this year, people with knowledge of the plans said.

Apple is set to preview the latest update of its mobile
software, called iOS 8, at its annual developer conference that
kicks off on June 2 in San Francisco.

Song Discovery

The song-identification feature will be integrated into the
mobile software in the same way that Twitter Inc.’s service is
currently incorporated, meaning consumers don’t need to
separately download it. Among the ways it can be used will be
through Apple’s voice-activated search feature, Siri. An iPhone
user will be able to say something like “what song is
playing,” to find out the tune’s details, one person said.

The song-matching feature could boost Shazam, whose app was
an early hit and has steered millions of song downloads through
iTunes. The London-based company, with more than 90 million
monthly users, has been weighing an initial public offering,
Shazam Chief Executive Officer Rich Riley has said. Other Shazam
executives have also previously discussed an IPO.

Sarah Hudson, a spokeswoman for Shazam, declined to comment
yesterday, as did Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple.

Music is a key part of Apple’s history, with the iPod music
player igniting the company’s growth more than a decade ago.
While the iPhone and iPad are now more important to its
business, the company continues to add new features around
music. Apple had 63 percent of the paid digital download market,
researcher NPD Group said last year. Download sales fell last
year for the first since the iTunes store debuted, according to
Nielsen SoundScan.

ITunes Radio

Apple has been exploring other ways to enhance iTunes
Radio, a Pandora competitor it introduced last year. The company
is preparing to make the advertising-supported service available
in more countries, one person said. In contrast, Pandora is only
available in the U.S. because of limitations of the licensing
agreements it has with music companies.

Apple also has been mulling making iTunes Radio a stand-alone app instead of including it as a feature inside the iTunes
store, one person said. A final decision hasn’t been made.

Even as song downloads slow, Apple has tried to boost
purchases by asking music companies to give iTunes earlier
access to their newest music. In exchange, Apple would agree to
sell an entire album, which costs more, rather than just
individual songs until the CD is released, two people said.

While Apple reached such a deal for the release of
Beyonce’s most recent album, music companies have been reluctant
to strike similar agreements for fear of alienating retailers
like Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp., two
people said.

Apple also has been exploring whether to release a
subscription-music service that would compete more directly with
Spotify, Rdio Inc. and Beats Music LLC. Apple has built the
service internally, yet has held off on releasing it to avoid
slowing download sales, one person said.